McCarthy had the team in on "Victory Monday" because they were going to the Metro and a lot of the young guys have not yet experienced the noise factor of that environment.

So Mike has more prep time planned than normal.

So I would say MM for sure is not taking the game lightly and because they will be ready I would say the crowd factor will only play into this for about a quarter.

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I am one not to getoverconfident about any game.

The past shows anything, "on any given Sunday"

there was a question about The Browns game being a "trap" game, I'll give the same answer here.

With 14 rookies playing vital parts there is no room for overconfidence.

This will be the 1st time some of these guys will be playing as a starter, on the road, division game, it's gonna be up to the veteran guys to make them understand it will be different, no matter what the Vikings record is, their level of play will be high, at least at the beginning of the game.

Strike fast, and often, take the crowd out of the game, and the team will soon follow.

The Browns hung tough last week, even though it was apparent Weeden was not going to get the job done, but look what almost happened when, imho, the Packers special teams relaxed for just one play.

Hopefully the young guys learned from last weeks experience, and they can put together an even better team victory.

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You will get no argument from me on any of your points. I am a big believer in the "any given Sunday" theory but there is a caveat to it. On any given Sunday any team CAN win but on any given Sunday far fewer teams actually have the realistic possibility to win. I think the vikings fall into the former. They CAN win but realistically... they don't have much of a chance. Last week, I thought the Browns realistically had a chance to win.

Still, even though a lot of them are blowouts, divisional games always seem to provide the underdog with a little extra incentive. The biggest difference I see between this week and last week however is that the Browns actually have a decent defense which allowed them to stay in it even after going down by 14. I don't see the same thing happening to the vikings if the game starts the same way.

Special teams will be crucial if the vikings want to keep it close and I think with Patterson they have a guy that can make some plays.

Like you said, this is a far too inexperienced Packers team to get overconfident but I think they know that. Someone said it in another post in another thread and I agree that this team really seems to understand the team concept more so than in the past. We don't have a dominating aspect right now on offense or defense so no one can get the feeling that he can sit back and coast because someone else will pick up the slack. The wins seem more like team wins because we are relying on everyone and for the most part everyone is stepping up.

Only chance the Queens have is if Apete blows up.

That ain't happening against this D.

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Although the Browns game is a small sample - they aren't exactly a terrible team and the Pack beat them on both sides of the ball convincingly.

If they execute like they did last week (and I think they will) it will be a very long game for Minnesota. This is a great opportunity to prove that they mean business. Pass rush will give them turnover opportunites as Freeman is prone to throwing risky balls when under fire (Bucs fans can confirm this.)

Prediction
Packers win 34-10